To preach about politics or not to preach about politics—that is a question many pastors are now asking with urgency.
Those who say we should preach about politics often reference 20th c. German theologian Karl Barth, who said that preachers should hold a Bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other. It’s a compelling image, one that invites preachers to connect the good news of Jesus to the everyday news of the world. When taken seriously, it invites preaching that is relevant, contextual, and responsive to political realities.
Curiously, though, Barth rarely follows his own advice. Read through his sermons and you’ll almost never find reference to the news of his day. In fact, in the years leading up to the rise of Nazi Germany, Barth remarked that if Hitler came to power, it would not have any impact on his preaching.
How could a preacher—in 1930s Germany no less—ignore the rise of the Nazi regime? It’s not that Barth forgot about the political and social implications of Jesus’ teaching. Rather, he hoped to avoid a situation in which politics came to be upstream of theology.
Unfortunately, that is exactly what is happening these days. In sermons in conservative and progressive churches alike, the Bible tends to receive nothing more than a glancing blow as the preacher opines about immigration, health care, tariffs, the environment, Palestine, gun violence, etc. Please hear me: all of these issues are worth talking about. It is just that preaching today doesn’t often go through the gospel to get to them. We might need to have a Bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other, but Scripture must lead the way.
But it’s not just about prioritizing the Bible over politics.
We must remember that the gospel is not just a set of beliefs, values, and ethical teachings that a preacher proclaims. The gospel is an event. It is an inbreaking of God’s kingdom that points to what God is doing in the world. The good news is not so much something we grasp in our hands (as in Barth’s image); it is something that is always “on hand” and “at hand” in our lives and communities. The task of the preacher is thus to show where the good news is happening, what it is doing, how to perceive it, and what claim it has on our lives. The gospel is not another form of news to juxtapose with the political news of the day. It’s a world-changing, hope-provoking reality that is breaking into our world here and now, and regardless of what party is in power.
Arriving at politics-free preaching is not the goal. Yet, now more than ever we must answer our call to be tellers of the Christian story. It is this story that our broken world needs so much. It is this story that has the power to nurture, call forth, prod, and sustain the type of transformation that we long for. It is the Christian story that will ground us and our congregations in the hope of the resurrection, not merely the hope of political change.
(1) What is your gut reaction to Karl Barth’s remark that the rise of the Nazi regime would not impact his preaching? Why?
(2) Where do you see politics being upstream of theology in your community? Why do you think this is and what problems does it create?
(3) Read 1 Samuel 2:1-10, in which we find Hannah praying for the type of world her newborn son, Samuel, would inherit. What feels “political” about this prayer? Where and how does the prayer reach beyond politics?
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